Change of venue for truck driver in fatal Indiana crash

February 12, 2007

GRANT COUNTY, IND. - A change of venue for the truck driver charged in the deaths of five Taylor University students and staff has rendered his April 30 trial date "meaningless," said the Grant County, Inc. prosecutor in the case.

Judge Randall Johnson granted a change of venue in the trial of Robert F. Spencer, 38. The Canton truck driver is charged with five counts of reckless homicide and four counts of criminal recklessness stemming from the deadly April 26, 2006, which also injured Gaylord resident Whitney Cerak.

Grant County Prosecutor James D. Luttrull Jr. said Johnson's Jan. 31 ruling granting the change of venue now made the already scheduled trial date "meaningless."

Luttrull said Johnson ordered selection of one of seven possible Indiana counties in which the trial could be conducted must be completed by Wednesday.

Advertisement

"We are in the process of eliminating six of the counties and once that is completed that county will have to schedule a new trial date," Luttrull said.

Judge Johnson declined to comment on the change of venue while the case is still under his jurisdiction.

Spencer was charged with nine Class C felonies in September 2006 after his semitractor trailer allegedly crossed the I-69 median and collided with a Taylor University school van, killing four students and one school employee. He remains lodged in the Grant County Jail where he has been held on a $75,000 bond since his arraignment.

According to reports from the Indiana State Police, Spencer had been talking on a cell phone at the time of the crash and had been driving at least nine hours more than what is allowed by federal safety regulations.

Cerak, a Taylor student and Gaylord High School graduate, was one of the passengers in the school van and initially was identified as one of the dead. In a case of mistaken identity which came to light May 31, 2006, Cerak was found to have survived the crash. She was recovering in a Grand Rapids hospital. Cerak and fellow Taylor student Laura VanRyn, who bore a resemblance to Cerak, had been mixed up and misidentified by first responders at the crash scene and by the Grant County coroner Ron Mowery.

In October of last year the Cerak family filed a notice of tort claim in the event they decide to sue Grant County over the misidentification of their daughter.